Sulfonation reactor head of improved adjustability

ABSTRACT

A REACTOR HEAD FOR A SULFONATION REACTOR IN WHICH THE FEED GAP FOR THE INNER ORIFICE RING IS ADJUSTABLE AND THE FEED GAP FOR THE OUTER ORIFICE RING IS SEPARATELY ADJUSTABLE, THE ADJUSTING MECHANISMS FOR THE INNER AND OUTER RINGS ARE CALIBRATED SO THAT AN OPERATOR MAY AT ALL TIMES BE AWARE OF THE SIZE OF THE GAP. THE INNER AND OUTER GAPS MAY RANGE FROM ZERO GAP TO AS LARGE A GAP AS MAY BE DESIRED.

June 6, 1972 DENZLER T 3,667,919

SULFONATION REACTOR HEAD OF IMPROVED ADJUSTABILITY Filed Jan. 6, 1971 United States Patent 01 fice 3,667,919 Patented June 6, 1972 SULFONATION REACTOR HEAD OF IMPROVED ADJUSTABILITY Rudolph E. Denzler, Stirling, and Charles F. Fischer,

Jersey City, N.J., assignors to Colgate-Palmolive Company, New York, N .Y.

Filed Jan; 6, 1971, Ser. No. 104,237 Int. Cl. B01j 1/00; C07b 13/06 US. Cl. 23-285 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention is directed to an improved sulfonation reactor head, the improved head being characterized by improved flexibility in the sulfonation operation.

Prior to this invention, in the existing concentric-wall sulfonation reactors, it was not possible to adjust both the inner and outer orifice rings nor to make such adjustment while the head was assembled and/or in operation, and there was no way of easily ascertaining the respective clearances of the two separate orifices, i.e. no way of conveniently or easily determining the extent of the respective gaps defined by the inner ring and/ or outer ring. Moreover, minor adjustments have heretofore been difficult to achieve because of the large change in gap size resulting from a minor adjustment.

Objects of this invention include an improved feed head overcoming one or more of the above-discussed problems and/or limitations of the prior concentric-wall sulfonation reactors. Other objects become apparent from the above and following disclosure.

One or more of the objects of this invention are obtained by an improved feed head typically as illustrated in the figure.

The figure is a vertical cross-sectional view of a typical embodiment of the improved feeder head of this invention for a concentric-wall sulfonation reactor.

The improved feed head, with reference to the figure, is for a concentric-wall sulfonation reactor provided with inner and outer reaction surfaces with a reactor body which terminates at its top in a welded flange ring, and with a core which forms an inner boundary which delineates an annulus that forms a reactor space. The feed head comprises a first conduit means 20 for channeling an organic liquid from a distal end 20a thereof communicable with an outside source of said organic liquid through a proximal end 20b thereof to a'first annular inner-reactor flow-directing means 22 having a surface 22a. A second conduit means 24 is provided for channeling a second organic liquid from a distal end 24a thereof communicable with an outside source of said second organic liquid through a proximal end 24b thereof to a second annular outer-reactor flow-directing means 26 having a surface 26a circumscribing said inner reactorflow-directing surface 22a. A vertically adjustable inner orifice annular ring means 28, movable upwardly and downwardly relative to said first annular flow-directing surface 22a, varies the size of a first gap 30 between the inner orifice ring means 28 and said first surface 22a. A vertically adjustable outer orifice annular ring means 32 movable upwardly and downwardly relative to said second annular flow-directing surface 26a varies the size of a second gap 34 between the outer orifice ring means 32 and the second surface 26a.

Inner ring means 28 and outer ring means 32 are spaced apart from one another sufiiciently to form a passage 36 therebetween with an open upper end 36a thereof and communicating at an opposite end 36b thereof with an open end 38a of an annular reaction chamber 38. First and second flow-directing surfaces 22a and 26a are spaced apart from one another sutficiently to form said reaction chamber 38 continuous with said passage 36 at one end thereof and communicating with said annular reactor space at an opposite end 38b thereof. Inner ring means 28 and means 22 jointly define a first oil-feed space 42 continuous with said first gap 30 and with said first conduit means proximal end 20b. Outer ring means 32 and means 26 jointly define a second feed space 40 continuous with said second gap 34 and with said second conduit means proximal end 24b. Each of said inner and outer ring means 28 and 32 and of said first and second surfaces 22a and 26a are positioned so that the first and second gaps 30 and 34 each communicate with said passage 36 and said reaction chamber 38.

A housing means 44 is connected to outer ring means 32 by an annular concentric expandable Wall or joint means 46 and forms an enclosed space 48 above the inner and outer ring means 28 and 32. Enclosed space 48 is communicable with a source 50 of air-sulfur trioxide gas at one end of space 48 and an opposite end of said space 48 is in communication with the upper open end 360 of passage 36 so that the gas passes from said gas source 50 through said first passage '36 to annular reactor space 38.

Adjustable inner ring means 28 includes a pivotably attached adjuster rod means 52 extending vertically, slidably and sealably through a wall 44a of housing means 44. First conduit means 20 also extends slidably and sealably vertically through wall 44a of said housing means 44. The use of one or more rod means 52 enables upward and downward movement of inner ring means 28 upwardly away-from and downwardly-towards said first surface 22a. Rod means 52 is supported at the upper end by one or more overhead struts (not shown), carried on the top ends of anchoring structure 54.

Second adjuster means 56 is connected to and extends between outer ring means 32 and outer reactor means 26a for effecting the upward and downward movement of the outer ring means 32 upwardly away-from and downwardly-towards said second surface 26a. First flow-directing means 22 and the reactor core are fixedly supported by means including anchoring structure 54, beam 58 and stud 62. Beam '58 is secured to members 54 by suitable means that permits assembly yet holds these parts in a rigid relationship after assembly.

In a preferred embodiment of the above-described in vention, the housing 44 and said annular concentric expandable joint means 46 jointly are shaped as a hood mounted on top of and around the outer perimeter 32a of outer ring means 32, and a first support arm 58 extends between opposite support structures 60a and 60b. Arm

'7 58 is secured to members 54 by pins 59 through supports 60a and 60b to permit assembly into a rigid strucand 60b. The number of such arms may range from one to several, but normally there are two arms to provide four per surface of said second annular means 26 positioned to slidably receive said male ridge member 64.

Similarly, said inner ring means 28 also preferably includes a downwardly extending annular male ridge mem ber 68 depending from a lower surface 28b of said inner ring means 28, and the first annular flow-directing means 22 includes an upwardly extending annular female member 70 comprising spaced parallel ridges rising from an upper surface 22a of said first annular means 22 positioned to slidably receive said second male ridge member 68. Ridge member 68 is located radially inwardly from and adjacent to the first oil-feed space 42.

The male members of the preceding described embodiment may both be positioned on the lower surfaces extending upwardly, or merely one (either one) extending upwardly and the other extending downwardly, with the respective mating female members being opposite the matching male member wherever it is located; i.e., it is not critical as to whether the male member is directed downwardly from an upper surface or directed upwardly from a lower surface, one embodiment being merely an equivalent variation of the other.

In a more preferred embodiment of the apparatus described above, there are included various seal means such as ring seal meansrfor example '72 and 74, a ring seal means being included between each slidable annular surface and its opposing annular fixed surface against which the slidable surface is slidable. For example, the radially innermost part, 66b, of the group of parts 66a, 66b and 64 has one or more annular ring seals 72 against part 64 to constitute a seal against liquid leakagebetween the fixed and slidable rings. Similarly, the radially outermost part of the female members 70, 70 and the male member 68 has an annular ring seal or seals 74 against adjacent part 68 to constitute a seal against liquid leakage between the fixed and slida-ble rings that form a portion of the inner oilfeed space.

Preferably, gap-defining faces of each of said inner ring means and outer ring means are wedge shaped-as illustrated in the figure, to move obliquely toward respective parallel gap-defining faces of the lower surfaces respectively. Also preferably the rod means 52 and the adjuster means 56 each comprise a micrometer adjuster, i.e. 52a and 56a in the figure.

The reactor head of this invention is for a sulfonation reactor, in which the feed gap for the inner orifice ring is adjustable as well as the feed gap for the outer orifice ring being separately adjustable, the adjusting mechanisms for the inner and outer rings respectively being calibrated so that an operator may at all times be aware of the size of the gap. The respective inner and outer gaps may range from zero to as large a gap as may be desired, depending upon the designed-in limits. The reactor head includes a hood structure with an accordion-like collapsible and expandable skirt, the lower edge of.;which is mounted on hte periphery of the outer ring. The mating portions of the outer ring and its relation to the outer lower surface for receiving the outer ring include appropriate annular seals between the surface of the lower structure and. the relatively sliding surface of the upper outer ring. Similarly, annular ring seals are located between the inner lower receiving surface and the inner slidable ring. The inner ring feed chamber is fed by a conduit extending up through one side of the hood, and the outer ring feed chamber is fed by a conduit extending through the outer ring structure, with the air-sulfur trioxide mixture of gas being 4 channeled down the hood through a passage defined by and between the inner and outer rings and between the inner and outer lower surfaces, the respective gap s being controlled by the inner and outer rings respectively feeding into the passage extending between the inner and outer rings.

Typically the moving film reactor on which this head is to be mounted has inner and outer reaction surfaces of 12.0 inch and 13.3 inch diameter, respectively. The reactor body terminates at the top in a welded flange ring approximately 24 inches in diameter.and-'l3.3 inches inside diameter. A 12 inch core forms the inner boundary which delineates the annulus that forms the reaction space.'The above described invention is a new feed head whichwill substitute interchangeably for the-prior head-utilized.

The invention as described -is a device so constituted that all the following actions can beaccomplished without conflict with each other:

(1) Organic liquid can be pumped to the'inner reaction surface. I

(2) Organic liquid can be pumped to the outer reaction surface.

(3) The air-S0 reaction gas can pass to the annular-reaction space.

(4) The inner orifice ring gap can be adjusted during operation at four equallyspaced points around the circumference; moreover, this adjustment can be made with precision. r

(S) The outer orifice ring gap can also be. adjusted at four equally spaced points and during operation, and with precision. V The number of adjusters for the inner upper ring means and/or for the outer upper ring means may range from one to several, normally there being four spacedaround the annular structure for each of the inner and the outer rings, functioning as disclosed above.

The disclosed structure permits either orifice ring when the structure is assembled (but not when in operation) to be adjusted to zero gap all around, and then reopened to any desired gap of known value, and uniformly all around. The parts are so proportioned that the two gaps may be varied from 0.000 to 0.100 inch.

The orifice gaps are formed between the parallel surfaces of the wedge-shaped rings (resulting in a coneshaped-appearing ring) so as to require no sharp changes in liquid flow where foreign matter could be pocketed.

The struts that serve to support and adjust the inner orifice ring, and the inner organic: feed pipe require stuffing boxes where they pass through the top dome which encloses the gas inlet.

Advantages of the above-described invention include (1) adjustability of each orifice,jnot just the outer one, (2) positive knowledge of the gap size, (3) relatively easy adjustability, achieved by avoidingdistortion of the parts, and (4) avoidance of sharp angular'change of pathof the organic liquid enroute to injection point. Other advantages are apparent from the preceding disclosure.

Instead of the illustrated mechanical adjuster means for the respective inner and outer ring means, a system utilizing electrical load cells, or the like, could be employed within the scope of this invention. Any and all obvious equivalents and/or modifications of this general nature are contemplated as within the scope of the disclosed'invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A feed head for use with a sulfonation reactor having inner and outer reaction surfaces, said feed head including first conduit means for directing an organic liquid from an outside source to said inner reactionsurface, .fificond conduit means for directing an organic liquid'fron'i an outside source to said outer reaction surface, inner and outer ring means and inner andouter flow-directing means, means mounting said inner and outer ring means for movement towards and away from said inner and outer reaction surfaces, said inner ring means and said outer ring means being spaced to form a passage therebetween, said inner and outer reaction surfaces being spaced to form a reaction space communicating with said passage, said inner ring means and said inner flow-directing means defining an adjustable inner feed gap means communicating with said reaction space and said first conduit means, and said outer ring means and said outer flow-directing means defining an adjustable outer feed gap communicating with said reaction space and said second conduit means.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 and further including expandable wall means defining a gas feed means communicating with said passage for feeding gas to said passage.

3. A feed head according to claim 1, wherein said inner ring means is movable independently of said outer ring means.

4. A feed head according to claim 1, wherein said mounting means includes a plurality of separately controlled actuation members for separately moving said inner ring means with respect to said outer ring means.

5. A feed head according to claim 1, wherein said inner ring means includes a first downwardly extending annular male ridge member depending from a lower surface of said inner ring means, said inner flow-directing means includes a first upwardly extending annular female member comprising spacer parallel ridges extending upwardly from an upper surface of said inner flow-directing means positioned to slidably receive said first male ridge member, said outer ring means includesa second downwardly extending annular male ridge member depending from a lower surface of said outer ring means, and said outer flow-directing means includes a second upwardly extending annular female member comprising spaced parallel ridges extending upwardly from an upper surface of said outer flow-directing means and positioned to slidably receive said second male ridge member.

6. A feed head according to claim 5, wherein ring seal means is included between each slidable annular surface and its opposing annular surface against which the slidable surface is slidable, and wherein gap-defining faces of each of said inner ring means and said outer ring means are wedge-shaped to move obliquely toward respective parallel gap-defining faces on said inner and outer flowdirecting means.

7. A feed head according to claim 6, and further including micrometer adjuster means to alter the size of the inner and outer feed gaps.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,246,852 4/1966 Biber et a1. 239-403 3,482,947 12/1969 Jacobsen et a1. 23-285 3,501,276 3/1970 Vander Mey 23-284 JAMES H. TAYMAN, JR., Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

